It's me

Sorry Guys! I was sick!

Sorry everyone, I was sick with the Chinese stomach bug! Last couple of blog posts coming through in a bit!

Weird Pics!!!

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Aslinya di-upload oleh raymond.brown3

When you take a picture of something outside the train it bends!! Check it out!!

Train Doors!!!

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Originally uploaded by raymond.brown3

The doors in the train open with a push of a button!! It's soo cool!!

Bullet train!!!

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Originally uploaded by raymond.brown3

All aboard!! Our next stop from Xi'an is Luoyang by bullet train!! We are traveling on a brand new, factory made train, and we are the first foreigners to ride it!!! We were even on Chinese TV!! How about that!! This train goes about 230 km per hour, which is about 200 miles an hour. When you look at it from the side and the front it looks like a huge eel! It was really nice inside, and it was so smooth, I thought it was a mag-lev train, but we will be going on that to the airport from Shanghai. I can't wait for that train, since I used to love Thomas the Train when I was a little kid!!

Muslim Monastery

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Originally uploaded by raymond.brown3

I don't know if I spelled monastery right, but during our last night in Xi'an we visited a Muslim monastery. It was soo cool!! In China, this minority group is called the Hui, and originally came to China from Persian traders who were allowed to settle in the area. Of all the ethnic groups in China, the Han Chinese people are the most numerous, with an estimated 90 percent of the whole population of China. The Hui is one of 56 smaller minority groups in China, not including the Jewish Chinese, who are not recognized by the Chinese communist government as a minority.

Alina and I on the Xi'an city wall!!

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Originally uploaded by raymond.brown3

On our last day in Xi'an, we went bike riding on the Xi'an city wall!! The city wall surrounds th old city of Xi'an and has all of the old archeatectural buildings. Outside of the wall, the more modern, new city surrounds the wall, and is continuing to expand!! Since the Chinese New Year is almost here, and the year of the Rabbit is coming, the people of Xi'an hold a huge festival with tons of floats and artwork along the wall!! I wish we could have stayed for the festival!! This year, it's still the year of the Rat, since the Chinese new year is way different from our new year!!!